


V Is For Vegan

by envythenight



Category: Rick and Morty
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-08
Updated: 2016-01-08
Packaged: 2018-05-12 15:24:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5670784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/envythenight/pseuds/envythenight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Morty turns vegan and help comes from a slightly unexpected place</p>
            </blockquote>





	V Is For Vegan

**Author's Note:**

> this is the shortest and quickest story i've ever written so sorry for any mistakes. since turning vegan myself, i've wondered how many characters could be/turn vegan. based on his morals and some of the things he's said, i realised morty could really easily become vegan if subject to the right conditions. so, yeah, enjoy!

“G-gee, thanks for taking us to this restaurant, Rick!” Morty smiled shyly at the man opposite him. “I h-h-h -- don’t like going back h-home for dinner after adventures.” He looked at the food on his plate and started taking ravenous bites. He didn’t know what the creature it came from was, but Rick had told him it tasted good, and he was so right.

“Yeah, I hate seeing Jerry’s stupid face too, Mooghhh- Morty,” Rick agreed after pausing to slurp some of his noodles.

“No, I mean w-we always miss dinner when we try to get back in time. And y-you can’t cook,” he explained.

“Whatever, Morty.”

“W-What are the tvs for?” Morty asked. He was looking at the small screens built into the table, next to where his plate was situated.

“Oh!” Rick seemed to brighten up at this question. “Lots of oghhhh- other planets need to, to see how their meal was mughhhh- made. Here,” he said, leaning over the table to fiddle with the screen on Morty’s side of the table.

Morty looked down at his screen… and threw up all over the table.

 

* * *

 

“I don’t understand, M-m-morty!”

“Y-y-you wouldn’t Rick!” Morty retorted. “It’s about human d-d-d -- compassion!”

Since watching that creature being beheaded at the restaurant, its legs still wriggling futilely as blood gushed down from the open wound, Morty had been doing research. At first he’d figured that that particular slaughter had been a fluke: on Earth it _had_ to be much more humane. But as he’d delved deeper, he’d found that not only was it not any more palatable on Earth, but most of the things he’d taken as truths were nothing of the sort.

Now that he was seeing it, it seemed crazy to him that people were so willfully ignorant, and he felt a fair amount of shame for how stupid he’d been. Of course a cow had to be forced into pregnancy in order to produce milk! And of course the calf had to be taken away within a few days of being born, otherwise it would drink up all the milk meant for human consumption instead…

Rick was the worst of it because he didn’t understand it at all. He’d had the same bored expression as any other time Morty tried to explain something to him unnecessarily.

“I-i-it’s life, Morty! Y-y-you can’t give a shit about every little creature!” Rick snapped.

“Y-y-you know what, Rick? I can, and I-I will!”

“People die all the time, Morty! What diiii- difference does it make if it’s an animal?”

“L-listen Rick, it doesn’t matter what you say, I’m doing it! I-i-if you can’t accept that, then that’s your problem, not mine!”

Morty stormed out, half expecting some pointed remark from Rick about how he didn’t give a shit about what an idiot like Morty did, but there was only silence.

 

* * *

 

Bottles and canisters of various shapes and sizes were sprawled across the bathroom floor, with Morty sitting cross legged at the centre of the mess. He stared at the explosion of toiletries hopelessly, unsure where to even begin. He sighed and picked up a shampoo bottle lying near one of his knees, but reading the ingredients made his head hurt. Nothing on it seemed to want to tell him if there were any animal products used in making it, just that there were lots of compounds involved like cocamidopropyl betaine and hyaluronic acid…

Out of the corner of his eye, Morty saw Rick walk past the bathroom, stop, and then turn back.

“Whuuhhhh- whatcha doing Morty?” he asked, leaning against the door jamb.

“C’mon Rick, stop messing with me,” Morty snapped, frustrated at his inability to understand what was in the products he was using. “I’m trying to figure out if any of these things are vegan.”

Rick rolled his eyes.

“Just use any of them, Morty,” he said, turning away. “It’s not important.”

Rick left and Morty stared once again at the products scattered around him.

“It’s important to me,” he said quietly to no one.

 

* * *

 

A piece of paper landed in front of Morty, neatly folded and unassuming. He looked up to ask why a random piece of paper had been thrown in front of him, but all he saw was Rick walking out of the dining room. Morty frowned at his retreating figure, then picked up the folded piece of paper. He opened it warily, not sure what to expect, but his eyes widened as he read the page.

At the top, in Rick’s handwriting, were the words “VEGAN CHECKLIST - hidden animal products”. Following this was a list of substances, with small notes underneath saying what sorts of products they were likely to be found in.

Morty drank in the info, paper clutched tightly in his hands. He’d seen some of these words before on his shampoos and soaps, but hadn’t known what they meant. But now he could actually tell which of his things were vegan!

Morty lowered the piece of paper, staring off into the distance. Rick had made this for him. He’d bitched the whole time about Morty turning vegan, but had taken the time to not only research what animals products could be found in things other than food, but also to write a list up for Morty so he could check the stuff he already owned and shop for new things without worry.

He got up, holding the paper close to his chest, and headed to the garage.

“Thank you, Rick,” he said honestly to the man’s back.

Rick didn’t turn around but muttered, “Whatever, Morty, you were taking up too much time in the bathroom.”

“Thank you anyway.”

 

* * *

 

“O-okay, Rick, it’s ready!” Morty called into the dark house.

He and Rick had got back from an adventure after dinner yet again, but Morty didn’t have a problem with that these days. He had to cook his own food anyway now, so it didn’t make much difference to him when they got back. His mom and dad were upset that he made less effort to get home for dinner these days, but he figured he wasn’t actually missing that many more dinners than before. For some reason, they also seemed to be taking it a bit hard that he was vegan now, which he thought was odd, especially given that his mom saved animals for a living, but he’d looked it up and it seemed a fairly common reaction to friends and family turning vegan.

Funny how it turned out that Rick was actually taking it the best, besides Summer, who genuinely seemed to listen to him.

“‘Bout time, Morty,” Rick replied, flipping on the lights in the dining room.

Morty had already laid the table out and Rick took a seat at one of the places set. Stumbling into the room carrying two bowls, Morty placed one in front of Rick, and sat down with the second.

“Not bad, Morty,” Rick said, three spoonfuls in.

Morty blushed, but didn’t say anything, in the hopes that Rick hadn’t noticed.

(Of course he had.)

 

* * *

 

“Whughhh- what’s in the oven, Morty?”

“I’m making some naan to go with the curry,” Morty explained.

Rick frowned and said, “Wait, naan? Did you buy it from the store?”

“Uh, yeah Rick,” Morty replied, confused. “I don’t know how to make it myself.”

“You can’t eat that, Morty!” Rick said suddenly.

Morty cocked his head, confused.

“I checked the ingredients, Rick. I didn’t see anything.”

“Morty, naan is made with yoghurt, y-you must have missed it. Check again.”

Sighing, Morty went over to the trash to fish out the packet. He read through the ingredients with a bored expression until…

Milk! He’d completely missed it; Rick had been right.

“Oh my god,” Morty murmured. He looked up at Rick. “Gee, th-thanks Rick! I wouldn’t have known unless you’d been here.”

“... Whatever Morty,” Rick muttered. “Just didn’t want to have to deal with you guilting all over the place.”

 

* * *

 

“Y’know, we could’ve just gone home, Rick,” Morty said, pouring over the menu.

“Geez, I thought you wouldn’t want to cook for once but--”

“No!” Morty said as Rick stood to leave. “I’m- I’m glad,” he said, grinning as Rick sat back down.

“Are you ready to order, sirs?”

An orange y-shaped creature with blue stripes, holding a pen and notepad, stood beside their table.

“Uh, yeah,” Morty said. “I just want to check, the grilled keshnar soba noodles doesn’t have any animal products in it, does it?”

The waiter pulled out a small, black device that looked like an iphone, tapped on the screen a few times and nodded.

“It doesn’t contain anything that came from a creature,” ze confirmed.

“Great, I’ll have that!” Morty said, smiling.

Morty glanced across to Rick, who he now noticed was staring at him. Rick watched him for a little longer, then sighed and said, “One for me too”

Morty beamed at him and Rick… Rick realised he was totally and utterly fucked, because he would do anything to keep Morty smiling at him like that.

 

* * *

 

**Bonus:**

 

“Mom, Dad... I’m going vegan.”

“Yes!”

“Summer… Are you sure?”

“Great job, M-morty.”

“Great job, Rick.”

“Whughhh- How is this my fault, _Jerry_?”

“You’ve been encouraging Morty this whole time; he would have just given it up if you hadn’t done that!”

“Oh well excughhhh- excuse me for encouraging my grandson with something he cares about.”

“What do you care about it, _Rick_?”

“Oh, real nice Jerry, think I don’t give a damn about my grandson, huh?”

“You pull him out of school almost every day!”

Over the argument that was quickly becoming heated, Morty turned to Summer and whispered, “Welcome to the club, Summer.”


End file.
